“The Bright Ideas Challenge” is a STEM related competition that aimed to encourage young minds to design and power the future, it inspired us to use our creativity and problem-solving skills to devise innovative solutions and high-tech devices. Once our team was presented with this opportunity, we instantly were filled with adrenaline that would help us interpret our school studies into this project. It was great having something to work on and test out our ideas in real – life proximity. We were amazed by the professionalism and ever evolving issues that were presented by the competition and couldn’t wait to give it our best try.
In the process of constant brainstorming, researching, and communication we came up with multiple ideas, that eventually evolved into “HeatFlux”. The energy issue our solution strives to solve is inefficient devices causing wasted energy. Did you know that only 10% of the energy used by an incandescent bulb is converted to light; the other 90% is lost as heat. Counting up how well used and widespread such products are we can calculate how inefficient and wasteful every household concludes to be. Leading on heating and light relies on the use of fossil fuels which have a detrimental effect on the environmental well-being; all of the enormous damage caused just for the energy to be later misused? If we harvested and used the wasted energy, less fossil fuels will need to be burnt as all of the energy would be used.
Our solution was to create miniature TEGs (thermo-electric generators) which would serve to harvest the waste thermal energy given off by objects such as lightbulbs, televisions, phones, and washing machines. The TEG would then use the temperature difference in order to convert the waste energy into useful electricity. The electricity would be then stored in a power bank by connecting the TEGs using a USB cable. The power bank would later allow the person to make use of the wasted energy by using the electricity to charge things or power them. Furthermore, we devised an app “HeatFlux” that would monitor the harvested energy and inform the user of the further appliances that could be taken. The TEGs will use Bluetooth to transmit their data to the app which will then be displayed for the user.
Our project is practical, as it will help to deal with wasted energy in households, offices, stores, and even cars. By collecting extra energy and reusing it, we would follow the sacred rule of “Recycle, Reduce, Reuse” as it will minimize the need for as much fossil fuels being burned.
Overall, I believe we worked great as a team, bouncing off each other’s ideas, and acknowledging each person’s point of view. I believe this project exceptionally implemented our love for STEM and how even during such uncertain times we never lost hope and kept striding forward. By doing many alike competitions STEM became part of our lives, helping us discover our unique capabilities and interests. In addition, STEM teaches us the intricate relationships between the people and our planet. We want to show the aim of Cellfie Magazine through our actions and hope many girls just like us to get inspired and dive into the immense and extensive world of STEM. Thank you!
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